Commercial
perfume such as Dior or Ralph Lauren is primarily made from a special perfumers
base- which put simply, is very strong, very pure, and very high proof
denatured alcohol.Of course there are many other chemical additives and
extenders, which vary from perfume to perfume, but carry out the purpose of
both preserving and *fixing* the scent.

A note: Before you reach for the gin, I’ve
tried making perfume from shop bought bottles of vodka, gin etc. in the past,
and although I met with some level of success, the proof of the alcohol really
wasn’t strong enough to be effectively miscible with the fragrance oils. So for
now, we’ll talk about making an oil based perfume, as the ingredients are
readily to hand in local health shops and maybe even your own fridge right now!

Oil based
perfume is the most ancient form of scent, being the perfume of choice for the
ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians- in fact the oldest perfume yet
discovered was discovered in Cyprus in 2003 and dates back more than 4000
years. These precious ancient perfumes would most definitely have been oil based!
(And very aptly were discovered on the island reputed to be the birthplace
of Aphrodite- but this is a story for another day…)

Before you begin your blend, you’ll need to get hold of the following
components:

Ingredients
list

A non-pungent base oil- (Olive oil won’t do unless
you want to smell like salad dressing!) Grape Seed Oil and Sweet
Almond Oil are both usually readily available in health shops, and
inexpensive. Watch out for Jojoba Oil, which although lovely will solidify
if it gets cool which can be a bit disconcerting if you wanted a liquid
rather than a solid perfume.

Essential Oils- good quality essential oils can
be very expensive as they are pure distilled plant essences- especially
Rose Maroc, Sandalwood, Violet leaf, and Oakmoss- and some are fairly
obscure and would need to be sourced online- however it is always possible
to find some nice smelling more common ones in your local shops.
Relatively inexpensive oils which smell pleasant include: Neroli, Sweet
Orange, Ginger, Vanilla, Grapefruit, Lemon, Geranium, Ylang Ylang, Frankincense,
Cedarwood, Jasmine, Chamomile, mint, and lavender.

A beautiful bottle to put your
fragrance in! Do
remember, oil based perfumes aren’t really suitable for atomisers as the
oil is too dense to spray and will only clog it all up.

Method

Three quarter fill your bottle
with your base oil.

Add drops of your essential
oils to your base oil, shaking the bottle after every fresh application-
it’s best to be cautious with your oils as they are very strong, and even
one drop too much can have a devastating effect on the final scent. Smell
your concoction as you go along until you discover your perfect blend!

When you’ve got your perfect
blend you can top up the bottle with a little more of your base oil if you
like. This is fine as the perfume will smell a little stronger when it is
applied to your skin, so this will mellow it out somewhat.

Hints and
tips

Try to think of your finished
perfume as a three dimensional object, a symphony, rather than a flat
painting. You may
already have heard of top notes, heart notes, and base notes- these
are terms used by perfumers to describe the different layers of scent
within a fragrance.

In brief:

Top notes- these reach our sense of smell
first, forming an initial first impression and then dissipating relatively
quickly. Examples of common top notes include: Lemon, Mandarin, Neroli,
Peppermint, grapefruit, tea tree.
Middle notes- these form the real “heart” of the fragrance and are commonly
floral, imparting warmth and fullness. Common heart or middle notes include: Jasmine,
Orange flower, geranium, Rose, Violet leaf, Melissa, Myrtle.
Base notes- intense base notes evolve over time and remain when all the
other smells have faded. They are heady, thick, sometimes mysterious, and often
derived from barks, resins, saps and grasses. Some common base notes are: Sandalwood,
Vanilla, Musks, Oakmoss, Cedarwood, Frankincense, Ginger, Glove, Rosewood,
Clove, Patchouli.

Natural Oil based perfumes are
wonderfully therapeutic and don’t contain any of the nasty parabens and
other preservatives and synthetic extenders etc. that are too often found
in commercial perfumes- however, this does mean that the fragrance doesn’t
always last quite as long on the skin.

All is not
lost though! Nature is a wonderful provider- and there are actually several
essential oils which are able to act as natural “fixatives” or “extenders”. So
while you wouldn’t want to put much into your finished product as they tend to
be very pungent, a drop or two here and there can help to hold your scent, so
that it is able to party (nearly!) as long as you are…

Some natural
fixatives you may want to consider adding to your perfume are:

Patchouli (Deep, spicy and
musky; common in the 60’s- perhaps a little “hippyish”!?)

Oris Root (woody, faint
violet undertones)

Vetiver (earthy, woody,
soothing)

Vanilla- (lovely, a very
common base for commercial perfume, although of course these are usually
synthetic, often blended with musks.)

Benzoin (sweet woods,
undertones of vanilla and resin)

Cedarwood (gorgeous, fresh
Christmas-tree type smell!)

Ylang Ylang (heady and
floral, be sparing with this!)

Myrrh (exotic, heady,
resinous, woody; use sparingly)

Francincense (woody, sappy,
but lighter and fresher than many woody scents with almost floral
undertones- very nice.)

Orange Oil to the Rescue! If you make a mistake and add a
drop too much of one particular scent, you could try adding a drop or two
of Orange Oil- as it’s widely believed that Orange Oil has the unique
qualities of being able to cancel out mistakes in perfumery somewhat,
toning them down. Personally, I think there’s some truth in this!

If you’ve
got this far, well done for creating your own signature perfume!

Now all that
remains is to name your creation…Will you call if after yourself, creating an
eponymous perfume like Chanel No 5, or will you go for something a little more
abstract and mysterious like “Angel” by Thierry Mugler or “Flowerbomb” by
Viktor and Rolf (two of my favourites!)

Remember,
perfumery is a complex art; actually in many ways it’s more like a science- so
don’t worry if your first attempt isn’t brilliant. There are thousands of
different scents for you to choose from and mix together, so with perseverance
you’ll soon be able to create delicious fragrances for all your friends!